KZN North TopShot Competition

On Saturday the 25^th August 2012 the first KZN North TopShot event was held in Hluhluwe.  At the last KZN North FGASA meeting the TopShot event was born with the idea to encourage some healthy competition between people in this industry and to give guys and opportunity to get, or renew their advanced rifle handling qualifications at a low rate of the entrance fee for the day.  The ARH qualification is set in place to fully prepare potential trails guides with the right rifle handling skills to safely walk their guests in dangerous game areas, and if a situation was to arise, he or she, would be comfortable with a heavy caliber rifle and able to handle the situation appropriately.

The event kicked off at 7am on Saturday morning as about 10 participants from the area gathered on the Hluhluwe shooting range. Each contestant ran through the first three drills consecutively, which was the exercises as set out for the FGASA ARH assessment. Two attempts were given and if not passed, the contestant was unable to successfully complete the ARH assessment but could still part take in the competition on a point base. Of the 10 starting competitors 4 went through the first round to shoot in the shot placement and simulated lion charge. The simulated lion charge proved to be the greatest challenge of the day. Many of the contestants have not practiced this drill prior to the competition and this proved to be their down fall. To enable you to pass the FGASA ARH drills, practice and building of muscle memory is vital to have smooth, flawless runs.

The event was a first of its kind and we hope it would eventually grow to become a national competition between guides and people in the guiding industry. The first event was a great success and we would like to thank everyone who came down to support the event and to Magnum Shooting Academy for sponsoring the prizes for the day.

Final results for the day were as follows: Fourth and third place went to Gareth Richards and Ronnie Brink respectively. Second place went to Hanroe Taljaard and Jonathan Webster walked away with the Top Shot title of the day. After the ARH drills and points have been counted contestants had a chance to compete in two extra drills which consisted of a simulated lion charge where the contestant has to land two shots on the lion, on target, before it reaches you and the ‘Halies Hop,’ where the contestant runs up a bank in full trails kit and when he returns from his run, goes through the shot placement procedure. These exercises where just set in place to create a greater challenge for the competition and could possibly be counted for bonus points in the next event.

We hope to have another KZN North TopShot event early in 2013 and we invite you to come join and support the event. We encourage other FGASA districts to also find their TopShot, where we can eventually compete regions against each other.

Keep an eye on the Bhejane facebook page and website for details or alternatively you can email us on info@ bhejanenaturetraining.com

A Nkombe Experience

 By Hanroe Taljaard

 

It was the start of the third and final trails trip for the year. We knew from the first week on ZRR we were in for a wet one, but never- the- less a unique experience. We watched as rains poured, rivers flooded, followed by the sun and some very hot days as the bush became alive around us. We had excellent sightings during this trails, logging well over 70 dangerous game encounters and some, now well embedded, memories and experiences.

On walking one of the properties close by our main camp on Amazulu, we had some great sightings the one day, to me a day that is the essence of walking trails and getting the opportunity to become part of the nature around you. The terrain was not easy and we covered well over 25km of walking in order to log the, well deserved, 7 sightings for the day. We reached the lodge after walking most of the morning and had a chance to refill our water bottles, as temperatures soared well over 35 degrees. We left the lodge and headed south and after a few kilometers we spotted, far up in the distance, some white rhino feeding on some burnt patches. After tracking buffalo most of the morning, up some very steep mountainsides, this sight was well welcomed.

As you’ll see in the video, we were walking up on the road leading to the area where we spotted the rhino. You could hear the loud thuds of her feet hitting the ground as she suddenly came into view, running down the road we were on. We quickly moved off the road, to our right, and stood dead still. The mother and calf came to a stop about 55m from us. We think the reason for them running down the road, is that one of the bulls we saw up in the same area might have disturbed them and she ran down the road. She was unaware of our presence as the wind was well in our favor. She stopped briefly and moved around the other side of the road as we watched. After making a small loop she came back onto the road as the wind started swirling about. She became aware of a presence and moved in slowly to investigate. She came in to about 25m of us, as we stood motionless. Both her ears pointed at our direction as she sniffed around in the air. It was a few moments of ‘benoude boude,’ but amazing to see this beautiful animal up close and on their level. As soon as she sniffed and became aware of us, you can see how she turns side profile, shielding her calf from us. With a few snorts and grants, she sped off in the opposite direction. 

We continued up the road when they had cleared the area and moved up towards where we had spotted the others. We managed to get a nice sighting of a female and two sub- adults feeding. We viewed them and extracted without disturbing the animals, which is always a successful sighting. Heading up further towards the fence line the female and calf from earlier came out the bush ahead of us. Wind was in our favour and they were unaware of our presence.

We looked on as the calf was in a very playful mood. Running in circles around the mother while vocalizing squeaky grunts. This was awesome to see and was animal behavior at its best. The calf made a few turns by the mother and then started trotting down in our direction. We moved slightly to our left to stay behind a small barrier between them and us; a barrier that a rhino of her size, will make light work of! The calf came to about 40m from us when it suddenly became aware of our presence. You could actually see the shock on the little ones face as it realized we were there. The mother was there in no time, super alert and looking around. The calf made such quick dash back to mom, it tripped slightly over a bush, quickly picked itself up and got behind her large mother. We stood dead still and observed as the female sniffed the air to investigate. I think at this time everyone had pretty much decided on his tree of choice. She looked at us, for what felt like hours, then turned and ran off, calf close by. They went some distance and stopped, as the mother scanned the area intently.

There was so much to learn from the behavior we had witnessed by this female white rhino and her calf on this day. A lot was taken from it. It has happened often that these calves will run into a trails group without knowing that they were there, and can obviously turn into something very serious when the mother feels you threatening her or her calf. Through just standing our ground and remaining motionless she moved off, not sure what to make of the situation. We felt privileged to have been allowed to view these Rhino in their everyday life. It’s just beyond me to think that people will ruthlessly murder these magnificent animals to satisfy their own greed and in the light of all the latest rhino poaching, it was a privilege to be able to be part of their daily, undisturbed, lives for just a few minutes.

Share your comments, feelings and past experiences with us! Email us at hanroe@bhejanenaturetraining.com

Creating Awareness Through Wilderness....

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Elephant Bull Sighting From a Tamboti Tree

During our last Wilderness Trails course we had some exceptional sightings and encounters. In the first week on Zululand Rhino Reserve the spring rains came down and we walked in some very wet conditions. This is a sighting we had of an elephant bull at the waterhole while we were up in a tamboti tree. It gave us an opportunity to view him safely and in his natural environment for almost an hour. We had a sighting of the same bull braking a fever tree in the dry river bed the previous day, with his characteristic long tail that almost sweeps the ground as he walks.

We viewed as the ellie went about giving himself a good mud bath as the rains poured down. He then left the water and went to scratch against an Acacia Fever tree, walking right underneath us, into the dense bush to go feed. It was amazing to watch and be part of this beautiful elephants life for just a few minutes and wouldnt have wanted to be anywhere else; rain, mud or tough terrain!

You'll notice in the supplied video how the elephant uses his feet to loosen the mud and then kicks the mud onto himself. This is a way of keeping cool on hot days but also a means to protect the skin from biting insects. This is obviously at a waterhole, but elephants are also know to start new waterholes with this same behaviour. What will start off in one season as a depression in the earth with rain gathered in it, will over the next few seasons become larger and larger as elephants come and dig down and loosen the mud to wallow in. Eventually the wallow will be deep enough for them to lie in and become larger and larger and in doing so, creates new waterholes.

Was a really enjoyable sighting and just loved watching him go about his mud bath! This is what wilderness trails is all about!!!

Got similar videos or stories of experiences out in the wilderness? Email us and we can post it on the blog!  hanroe@bhejanenaturetraining.com

Creating awareness through wilderness! 

For more information on Bhejane nature training email us on info@bhejanenaturetraining.com today!